The French Revolution and the Three Estates

Congratulations! You have now completed what many of the world's best and brightest political minds struggle to do on a daily basis--put into words the reasons why they feel themselves or their party should have political power in their respective nation. You have gained practice in writing a persuasive essay, conducting research, and evaluating the relative positions and merits of various interest groups in society and their divergent ideas for government. Interestingly enough, the next problem that your respective estate would face would be: now that we have the majority of political power, how do we run a country??? This question has baffled the leaders of many political movements in the past and surely was no easy task for the different groups in the French Revolution. Additionally, the ruling group of citizens must figure out what to do about dissidents--in this case, the members of the other two estates. Do you attempt to incorporate them into the political apparatus? Do you allow them to break off and form their own, distinct nation or society? Do you use the harsh hand of the government to silence their dissent? These daunting questions and more face the ruling classes of nations everyday....